Paris Changes the Future of Urban Form
Call me old-fashioned, but I was very disappointed to find out that Paris had lifted the ban on buildings over 37m. I discovered this change through the announcement of Herzog & de Meuron’s new 200m (650 ft) tower for Paris, as the first since the ban.
[Image: Paris roof-scape. Courtesy of PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE.]
Financial Crisis Timeline
I was tipped off by John to a Fast Money video on CNBC, which explains the following three pieces of legislation that set the stage for our current financial crisis.
[Image: Graph of DOW Index highlighting three years with influential economic legislation. Courtesy of Google.]
- 1999 - Congress passes law allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to accept weaker credit
- 2001 - 9/11 caused Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, to drop interest rates very low
- 2004 - SEC grants exemption to 5 firms allowing them to borrow against their reserves at a 40:1 ratio
It is important to consider these events before you hop on the hate-train, because two of them were passed with the best of intentions for our society and our economy.
How Big is 700 Billion?
The treasury’s financial bailout has been labeled Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). Since they chose a name whose acronym sounds more like a government scandal or cover-up, I’m not sure they’ll fair much better with the details. To this end, I’m going to ignore all the information/misinformation, and focus on putting this number in perspective.
[Image: Money falling from sky. Courtesy of Seeing Red AZ.]
Back in Black
Do not mistake this as a reference to our dynamic, um flexible, unstable economy, but rather to the fact that I’m back in New York in my architecture uniform. Work, teaching, and blogging shall resume.
Given that Monday was the first day of fall, I hope that everyone enjoyed their summers. It was also my first day back from the perfect weather of SoCal to the cool reality of New York City. In some ways, this was a relief from the traffic congestion of LA. In others, a return to the comfort of the convenient and familiar. The grass is always greener, I suppose.
Although the lazy days at pool and ocean side are not the only reasons for my refreshed vigor. Along the way, I visited the Salk Institute by Louis Kahn, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels by Rafael Moneo, and the gardens of the Getty Center by Laurie Olin. Borrowing the words of Tadao Ando upon his visit to the Salk Institute, “I am renewed.”
[Courtesy of my travel partner at Life After Architecture.]
For now, though, I leave you with some landscape photographs from my trip, and in the following days I will post images from the buildings and garden mentioned above.
California Dreamin’
The last two weeks have been a scramble to finish a deadline at work and prepare the schedule, lecture, and assignment for my first class of the semester. Going from one extreme to the other, I now take off for a much needed vacation. If I permit myself to engage in the ridiculous neighborhood naming of New York, I will be shifting from SoHa to SoCal this week.
Although I hope to make this trip more about R&R, and less about architecture, I do have plans to visit the Salk Institute on Monday. Please pardon the hiatus for one more week. Upon return, I hope to share this and other adventures over the next week.
There’s a feeling I get, when I look to the west, and my spirit is longing for leaving.
- Led Zeppelin
[Image: Salk Institute plaza at sunset. Courtesy of 2 or 3 things.]
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